It's a pretty good, but not amazing, Soulslike that gets additional points for its unique-for-the-genre art style and plentiful accessibility options.
The early game is Another Crab's Treasure's weakest point, with The Shallows being particularly featureless and empty. It really isn't until you exit the world's hub city New Carcinia that things get interesting and "set apart" from other Soulslikes. "It gets good after X hours" is often a turnoff for people, but there is absolutely a good game here once you get past that point.
Using found objects around the world as shells for your defense is certainly a novel idea, and is an interesting twist on a Breath Of The Wild-like durability system. But where you get a huge variety of defensive options and the special attacks to go with them, there is no weapon variety, leaving you with an upgradable single weapon for the whole game. I found this nice as I could get better at using it as the game went on, but some people might find that boring.
The combat is fine. Nothing amazing, nothing egregious. Once you start getting your Umami special attacks, it gets more interesting. The story boss designs are pretty strong, though some mid-bosses and optional bosses are effectively just reskins of each other.
However, it falls into the trap of other Soulslikes in that you cannot ever accurately get a gauge of "where you need to be" when you go up against a boss. There's a good farming spot to help you out if you do get stuck though.
The game is full of personality - what is now becoming "signature Aggro Crab". The dialogue has that slightly sarcastic "ting" that is also present in their previous game Going Under. And there are some deep cuts to Going Under for those who have played it.
I think Another Crab's Treasure is definitely worth a playthough so long as you set expectations accordingly. This isn't going to be a Bloodborne or a Lies of P or anything. But it's definitely a fun and interesting change of pace for those who enjoy the general Soulslike genre.
The early game is Another Crab's Treasure's weakest point, with The Shallows being particularly featureless and empty. It really isn't until you exit the world's hub city New Carcinia that things get interesting and "set apart" from other Soulslikes. "It gets good after X hours" is often a turnoff for people, but there is absolutely a good game here once you get past that point.
Using found objects around the world as shells for your defense is certainly a novel idea, and is an interesting twist on a Breath Of The Wild-like durability system. But where you get a huge variety of defensive options and the special attacks to go with them, there is no weapon variety, leaving you with an upgradable single weapon for the whole game. I found this nice as I could get better at using it as the game went on, but some people might find that boring.
The combat is fine. Nothing amazing, nothing egregious. Once you start getting your Umami special attacks, it gets more interesting. The story boss designs are pretty strong, though some mid-bosses and optional bosses are effectively just reskins of each other.
However, it falls into the trap of other Soulslikes in that you cannot ever accurately get a gauge of "where you need to be" when you go up against a boss. There's a good farming spot to help you out if you do get stuck though.
The game is full of personality - what is now becoming "signature Aggro Crab". The dialogue has that slightly sarcastic "ting" that is also present in their previous game Going Under. And there are some deep cuts to Going Under for those who have played it.
I think Another Crab's Treasure is definitely worth a playthough so long as you set expectations accordingly. This isn't going to be a Bloodborne or a Lies of P or anything. But it's definitely a fun and interesting change of pace for those who enjoy the general Soulslike genre.